Are You Suffocating Your Brand’s Content Without Even Realizing It?

It’s time we had an important talk: Your editorial process is killing your beautiful content. Here’s why.

First, one of your staff writers creates a witty, thought-provoking article for your website. Next, the piece must go to an editor—or two—for quality inspection before landing back on your writer’s desk. It may go back and forth multiple times. After that, the post may go to a high-ranking executive for messaging approval before being passed along to a board of directors. Finally, it must pass through your legal team. Several weeks—or sometimes months—later, the post winds up on your website—a tired, bland, and likely outdated version of its former self.

And you wonder why nobody is sharing your content on social media!

I know what you are thinking, and I agree: some content must be thoroughly vetted for quality purposes before going live, especially when it concerns new product launches or other sensitive issues. But if you’re running all of your content (meaning your blog posts, case studies and even white papers) through an extensive gauntlet it can jam the production process and do the following:

Waste time: The point of hiring an editorial staff or outsourcing to a custom content provider is at least partially to save your executives time editing. Trust your editorial staff to handle daily production tasks and have them take responsibility for the collateral they produce. This is, after all, why you pay them.

Alienate your readers: The more polished and refined an article is, the less personality it will have. By the time the fifth, sixth or seventh person is done editing an article, it may belong in a museum—but it could be completely disconnected from the needs of your readers, as the original writer’s voice will be lost.

Stifle creativity: Your editorial department should be a hotbed for creativity—a place where your customers’ needs translate directly into content. Don’t be a wet blanket; if you want to encourage new ideas, you need to give your writers and editors more freedom to run with their ideas.

A much better way to leverage the input of your executive team on your website is to consider investing in a ghostwriting service. Instead of having your executives tear apart blog posts and add their input to someone else’s writing, use a ghostwriter to interview them, extract their ideas and mirror their voices.

Click here for more information about how a third party content provider can help streamline your editorial needs.

With an extensive background in journalism having worked at AOL’s Patch.com and New Haven’s “Groove Magazine,” Content Boost’s Digital Content Editor Gerald Baldino certainly has a way with the written word. His right-brain mentality and creative thinking has helped him launch numerous successful content marketing campaigns for his clients. Dubbed “Saint Baldino” for his willingness to help other team members in need, Gerald is an independent author and publisher, and enjoys creating short fiction, poetry and visual art in his spare time. Gerald received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.